Screenwriters' Rant Room

Hilliard, Lisa and Chris sit down with big bro, writer/director Dwayne Johnson-Cochran to talk about his new Music Documentary   BE KNOWN  available on Amazon Prime!   DIRECT LINK: www.bit.l/SWRR-232   Dwayne’s film  LOVE & ACTION IN CHICAGO  on Amazon Prime Other Must-See Music Docs: Twenty Feet from Stardom (2013) -  trailer   Chasing Train   see it on  Netflix   From The Sky Down  - trailer (U2...

Hilliard, Lisa, Chris and Showrunner Geoffrey Thorne talk about how sticking the landing is crucial for a screenplay to work; for a TV pilot, the engineering works differently because the ending is in most cases... the beginning. In a film, the ending contributes to your overall acceptance of the film as a whole, Act Three is the beast that needs to be looked it carefully. Sometimes Working Backwa...

This week Hilliard, Chris, and Lisa are joined by Geoffrey Thorne to discuss British vs. American actors - we weigh in on the unending debate about who can or can't portray Black life on screen!   Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-230     Samuel L. Jackson takes umbrage when Black Brits play Black American roles . The UK's seminal acting school, RADA - Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts Black British actor...

Hilliard and Chris sit down with Deric A. Hughes to talk about his crazy journey from the Writers On The Verge Program to Co Executive Producer on two of the hottest genre series: FLASH & ARROW!   www.bit.ly/SWRR-229     Warren Ellis'  Planetary Stephen King's  ON WRITING     John Cassidy  (Comic Artist)   Robert Hewitt Wolfe Gene Roddenberry's  ANDROMEDA DEEP SPACE NINE   NBC's  Writers On The Ve...

Hilliard, Chris and screenwriter/director Todd Nunes chop it up about EVERYTHING we love about the Horror genre!   HIGHLIGHTS: HALLOWEEN, DAWN OF THE DEAD, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE WARRIORS (yes, it has elements of horror), SLASHERS vs PARANORMAL FILMS and so much more!     Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-228       Fans of the show, your support is always welcome, and as we mentioned on the sho...

Hilliard, Chris and Jesani Drew chop it up in a fun conversation about Rewriting and so much more!   Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-227     Show Notes   Sexy Beast - Trailer   The Rookie on ABC   The Goop Cop on Netflix   MR  INBETWEEN  on F/X   Beverly Hills Cop ( screenplay )   Breaking Bad ( pilot )   Castle ( pilot )   David Mamet's The Art of Theater Paris Review interview.   PODCAST SHOUTOUTS:...

We sat down with CBS Program finalist Antonio "Sinsation The Writer" to answer his questions about navigating this crazy business.       Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-226     David Mamet Memo To Writers of THE UNIT Javier Grillo-Marxuach 11 Laws of Showrunning   Scripts You Better Have Read BIG ( the script ) KRAMER vs KRAMER ( the script ) TOY STORY ( the script )   Our Favorite Writing Coaches Ca...

Bianca Sams is back! To talk about incorporating (should you? If so, when?)   Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-225   Questions to Ask Yourself   S Corp C Corp LLC Compare Business Structures Differences Between S Corp and C Corp   California Secretary of State Corporate Name Look-Up   After Trump's Tax Reform to Funnel Money to the Wealthy there are other considerations . Here are things to consider ....

Hilliard and Chris are joined by writer Bianca Sams to discuss mid-season staffing and staffing outside of the season!   Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-224   Fans of the show, your support is always welcome, and as we mentioned on the show, here's the link to this game-giving podcast's Patreon link:  http://bit.ly/SWRRPatreon   Twitter: @ScreenwritersRR @HilliardGuess @LisaBolekaja @UnathorizedCBD @...

PART 2 of Hilliard, Chris and Jesani's conversation about Kurt Vonnegut's  8 Tips for Short Story Writing  and how they apply to screenwriting.     Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-223   For the next two weeks we'll examine each tip in depth.   We mentioned some scripts during the episode and here's how you can read them:   Erin Brockovich  Script  and  Trailer   Star Wars - A New Hope  Script  and  T...

Hilliard, Chris and Jesani sit down in a Part 2 conversation on last weeks Kurt Vonnegut's 8 Tips for Short Story Writing and how they apply to screenwriting.     Direct Link: www.bit.ly/SWRR-222   For the next two weeks we'll examine each tip in depth.   We mentioned some scripts during the episode and here's how you can read them:   Erin Brockovich Script and Trailer   Star Wars - A New Hope Scr...

It's been a minute since we did a craft episode; so Hilliard and Chris, joined by Babywriter Jesani Drew, talk about the craft of writing and the techniques that screenwriters need to master... particularly... The Power of the First Page!   DIRECT LINK: www.bit.ly/SWRR-221   Scripts & shows that we discussed: The Matrix - script and trailer The Blacklist - script and trailer 8 1/2 - trailer Billio...

Geoffrey Thorne is back! This time to dispense more details (but still not a lot) on Marvel's Avengers: Black Panther's Quest; where he was the head writer.   You can see the just-dropped trailer here!    The show officially drops at the end of September on Disney XD, check your cable guide!   Geoff, most recently, repeated fabled screenwriter William Goldman's dictum "Nobody Knows Nothing" which...

Geoffrey Thorne returns to the show as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the superhero movie that paved the way for the über-dominance of cinema... by the Marvel Cinematic Universe... BLADE (1998) starring and produced by Wesley Snipes, written by David S. Goyer and directed by Steven Norrington.   Here's the BLADE script  which is a KILLER read.   Shame on you if you haven't seen the film, her...

Hilliard, Lisa, Chris and Lauren go IN on this hilarious episode, that's from beginning to end - full of industry game! Lauren and Lisa dispense some properly-charged thoughts on how poorly Boots Riley is reacting to the negative critiques on his experimental film, SORRY TO BOTHER YOU.   HIGHLIGHTS: Idris Elba’s 'Black James Bond' movie, Patrick Stewart and his Star Trek comeback, The Oscars New B...

Hilliard, Chris and Lauren chop it up in this hodgepodge episode where we discuss movie scores, Hitchcock's potentially stultifying working method versus Spielberg's improvisational ingenuity, Lauren's writing methods, and then of course, Lisa hijacks the show!   SHOWNOTES:   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-217 The Soundtrack Show Podcast ( https://www.soundtrackpodcast.com/ ) Brief discussion of Al...

Hilliard and Chris go IN with Nerds of Prey podcast co-founder/co-host Lauren Warren... about being a a newly-minted LA transplant, the trials of learning to be a writer and we provide insight on a ton of topics important to young writers early in their career!   Fans of the show, your support is always welcome. As we mentioned on the show, here's the link to this game-giving podcast's Patreon lin...

Hilliard, Chris and Lauren Warren go into the Writers' Room with Writer/Co-EP Eric Haywood, the only writer/producer to have the esteemed distinction of writing on both POWER and EMPIRE.   A quick rundown of Eric's credits: Power ( power.starzshows.com/Watch/Power‎ ) Empire ( https://www.fox.com/empire/ ) The short-lived Hawaii ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0410987/ ) Soul Food ( https://www.imdb...

The second dose of the awesome POSE/Steven Canals' episode. If you didn't listen to the first part, you're slippin' and trippin'!   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-214   PATREON:  http:/bit.ly/SWRRPatreon     Subscribe, Comment, Rate & 5 STAR Review on iTunes! http://bit.ly/HG-SRR-EP1   Twitter: @ScreenwritersRR @HilliardGuess @LisaBolekaja @UnuathorizedCBD  @ poseonfx   @ StevenCanals If you have a...

Hilliard, Chris, and Lisa are joined by Executive Producer Steven Canals to talk about the journey he took to become a filmmaker as well as creating his amazing show "POSE" on FX! Come back next week for PART 2 of this episode!   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-213   PATREON:  http:/bit.ly/SWRRPatreon     Subscribe, Comment, Rate & 5 STAR Review on iTunes! http://bit.ly/HG-SRR-EP1   Twitter: @Screen...

We got a little silly in this episode discussing must-see entertainment! Mainly because Lisa was around for two episodes in a row!'   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-212   Subscribe, Comment, Rate & 5 STAR Review on iTunes! http://bit.ly/HG-SRR-EP1   SUPPORT THE PATREON PAGE:   http://bit.ly/SWRRPatreon   Twitter: @ScreenwritersRR @HilliardGuess @LisaBolekaja @UnuathorizedCBD    REFERENCES What is "...

Hilliard, Lisa are Chris are joined by Creator/ Showrunner James La Rosa to talk about his amazing show "Hit the Floor", the importance of representation in media, his writing style, how it's developed his voice over time, and a TON of other great stuff!   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-211   PATREON: http:/bit.ly/SWRRPatreon     Subscribe, Comment, Rate & 5 STAR Review on iTunes! http://bit.ly/HG-...

Part Two of the super-sized Q&A Episode. Geoff Thorne and Lauren Warren join Hilliard and Chris.   DIRECT LINK:   www.bit.ly/SWRR-210   Take note, faithful listeners! The Patreon is up: http:/bit.ly/SWRRPatreon   Help us grow the audience, so we can do more Facebook Live episodes and get that YouTube channel going. As we mentioned the Queens of Cinema t-shirts will be available to Patreon subscrib...

Part one of a two-part Q&A episode with Hilliard and Chris and guests, showrunner Geoff Thorne and writer/podcaster Lauren Warren.   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-209   And after much touting, we've launched the Patreon page!    Please check out here:  https://www.patreon.com/ScreenwritersRantRoom     Hilliard's Twitter:  https://twitter.com/HilliardGuess Geoff's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Geoff...

Hilliard, Chris, and Baby Writer Maurice Frazier are joined by actress/writer Kat Khavari to talk about her amazing story and why she creates her own TV projects that go viral and show off her ability to play multiple characters!   DIRECT LINK:  www.bit.ly/SWRR-208   Subscribe, Comment, Rate & 5 STAR Review on iTunes! http://bit.ly/HG-SRR-EP1 Twitter: @ScreenwritersRR @HilliardGuess @LisaBolekaja...